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Here in Northeast Pennsylvania, we have many reasons to fight for clean water and clean air.

Kids in Scranton don’t deserve to live in one of the “asthma capitals of America.” Sportsmen shouldn’t have to give up fishing because the smallmouth bass are covered in lesions. And selfishly, I’d like to continue paddling in the Upper Susquehanna Basin without watching its natural beauty fade as we get swept up in Pennsylvania’s energy boom.

Fortunately, there’s something we can do about pollution caused by energy production while maintaining our quality of life and economic

prosperity.

Recently, Pennsylvania has been front and center in a national conversation about how to balance increasing energy needs with concerns about the negative consequences of a warming climate. Hearings in Pittsburgh last week on proposed national air pollution limits for coal plants highlighted how our future energy mix is moving away from dirtier energy sources to cleaner and renewable fuels.

This conversation hits close to home. Across the commonwealth, natural gas well pads, compressor stations and pipelines dot the landscape. we are the nation’s fastest-growing producer of natural gas.

In terms of fuel, natural gas produces half the carbon dioxide of coal when burned, and generates fewer hazardous substances that decrease air quality.

But natural gas development presents another air pollution challenge in the form of methane emissions.

Methane is a super-charged greenhouse gas that traps 84 times more heat than carbon dioxide over its first 20 years in the atmosphere. And it leaks from a variety of sources across the natural gas supply chain. These leaks are well documented, but we don’t directly require companies to prevent them, even though cost-effective technologies exist.

While most discussions about the White House’s Clean Power Plan focus on carbon dioxide, we can’t ignore methane. Reducing carbon pollution through new power plant rules and other means will help us stabilize the climate in 100 years, which is good.

But reducing methane emissions at the same time will help us immediately slow the rate of warming. This means that we can start to mitigate the effects of warming, such as extreme heat events and poor air quality.

Many policymakers consider carbon dioxide and methane as two interchangeable targets to avoid worsening climate conditions. This view presents a false choice because we will make much greater progress by addressing both now.

It’s going to get harder to avoid the worst effects of warming. Delayed policy actions are only going to increase the damage on our communities, businesses, and environment. We need Pennsylvania leaders to take action on reducing methane pollution from the natural gas industry now, along with addressing carbon dioxide pollution.

We have an opportunity to get this right. Let’s not squander it.

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